The conduct of lotteries and sweepstakes by state governments or government-established agencies and corporations has become commonplace in the United States and in many other countries throughout the world. The lottery is conducted by offering participants the opportunity to win or to share in winning a substantial monetary prize, the prize generally exceeding one million dollars. The winner or winners are determined from participants who have entered the play by identifying up to six different numbers from a predetermined field, say from 1-54, which series matches the numbers placed on six markers randomly drawn from a collection of markers bearing the series of numbers i.e., 1-54.
It has also been proposed to conduct lotteries in conjuncture with sporting events. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,239 discloses a method in which a series of random numbers are generated by the lottery sponsor and assigned to a given participant. A set of numbers are assigned to possible outcomes of a sporting event, or series of events, such as horse races, and then the outcome numbers are recorded after the sporting event has been completed. The winner is determined by the participant whose randomly assigned numbers match, or come closest to matching the actual outcome numbers. However, the assigning of random numbers deprives the lottery player of a sense of participation in the process. This is a major drawback, and may discourage fans of a particular sport from participating in the lottery.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,889, it is proposed to conduct a sweepstakes game in which the winner correctly predicts a portion of the outcome of a golf tournament. A code number is assigned to each tournament player and the sweepstakes participant enters a number corresponding to the score of each of a preselected number of players. The use of code numbers and associated predicted scores enables the game to be played from a plurality of remote data entry devices, e.g., touch-tone telephones. The data is entered in a central computer for processing and eventual determination of winners who have been assigned a unique access number. Although this method has the advantage of actively involving the participants in the selection of winners, it does lend itself to the possibility of collusion among the golfers playing in a given tournament, or to improper activities by sweepstakes participants, such as attempting to distract or disturb one or more golfers in order to cause a shot to be missed and raise that golfer's final score. A lottery based on golf is also likely to attract fewer regular participants, due to its limited appeal and the relatively small number of professional golfers that are well-known to the general public.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide games of chance conducted in conjunction with popular sporting events in which each game participant selects his or her own series of numbers.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method for conducting games of chance in which the winning combination or series of numbers is determined by the final scores of a plurality of sporting events.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of conducting games of chance on at least a weekly basis, or even more frequently, in conjunction with popular national or regional sporting events that take place over a period of time that spans at least several months.
It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a method of conducting games of chance in which the winning combination of numbers is determined by reference to the outcomes of a plurality of competitive sporting events in which the numerical outcome of any single sporting event, or series of sporting events, cannot be readily manipulated by collusion among the players or influenced by interested third-parties.
It is another object of this invention to provide games of chance in which participants can be provided with the option of predicting more than one outcome for one or more of the individual sporting events and where the cost of playing is increased proportionally.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method of conducting games of chance in conjunction with a series of sporting events so that if one or more of the events cannot be completed, e.g., due to inclement weather, or because the final score is subject to a technical or legal challenge, the scores of one or more alternative like sporting events can be substituted.
As it will be shown, the above objectives and other advantages are achieved by the method and apparatus described herein.